CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Surveillance video released Wednesday morning shows the dramatic moments an ATM was stolen from Brooks' Sandwich House in Charlotte's NoDa neighborhood.
The video shows the suspects tying the ATM to the back of a U-Haul and ripping it from the foundation. The restaurant was closed due to the incident. Police are still searching for suspects and the ATM.
Brooks took to social to announce that they have since reopened following the crime.
"Just remember to bring your cash 'cause we don’t have an ATM now," Brooks Sandwich House said. "We are just blessed nobody was hurt during all this."
The famous local burger shop in Charlotte faced an enormous hurdle back in 2019 when one of the co-owners was murdered.
"I knew this day was coming, it's just one of those things that you're not going to get over, just try to get through," Scott Brooks' twin brother David Brooks said back in 2020. "My brother, he leaves a legacy of just one word, kindness and he had a heart of gold. I hope I'm like that, I really do, I don't know what people see in me, but I hope they see him in me."
Thieves struck again, this time at a BP gas station off Old Statesville Road in North Charlotte.
Arpita Patel is the owner. She’s been at the location for five years. She said her gas station was hit in the early morning hours Thursday and within just a few minutes the ATM was gone.
"How do you do this stuff.... just too much bad right now," Patel said.
Video shows one of the suspects using a large rock to break the glass of the front door. Once inside the person goes directly for the ATM, straps it up and then just like in the first video uses a U-haul truck to haul it out of there. The entire front door entrance was torn apart.
"It's not just the ATM," Patel said. "The damage, it's really bad and we have to fix the damage."
Patel said there couldn’t have been more than $5,000 inside the ATM, while she is left with $30,000 worth of damage.
"I'm just saying… just get a job so you don’t have to steal anything," Patel said.
The front entrance is now boarded up, and the owner told WCNC Charlotte it will take about three to four weeks to fix. Meanwhile, they plan to step up patrols in the area.to make sure their business is not hit again.
Community members say they feel for the businesses impacted.
"I can’t imagine if this was my business," Cherise Belnavis, a South Park resident, said. "I know how much it takes and how hard you work to sustain a business and to achieve profitability. For someone to have this idea that they can just take what belongs to you... it is just troubling."
CMPD said they don’t know at this time if the two incidents are connected.
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